Mini ColourPop Haul + Swatches #3

on -
May 10, 2017

I've done it again. I bought some more things from ColourPop. It's just so hard to resist when their products are so affordable and amazing quality - plus, when they do unbelievable offers, it'd be rude not to! You can take a look at my first mini haul here and my second here, just to get an idea of how amazing their stuff is. This time around, the brand were offering free UK shipping on orders over $30, which meant that I only had to spend around £25. You can understand why I couldn't ignore it, right? I'll admit though, it's so hard to choose what to buy because there are so many things that I'd love to try out. As you can see, I made my choices and waited ever so patiently for my parcel to arrive from L.A.I was so surprised by how quickly my order came. It must've taken just over 2 weeks to land in my hands, which is amazing, considering it'd come from America and been unloaded in London. As always, there was a customs fee to pay, which is the only bit about ordering from the site that I hate, but as far as I'm away, there's no way around it, so I've just got to suck it up and deal with it. It actually wasn't as much as I was expecting it to be, considering that the parcel was a little bit weighty, which is always a plus!

So what was it that I'd bought? I told myself that I was going to branch out from eyeshadows and try something different - maybe a highlighter or a bronzer - but guess what I went for? That's right, more eyeshadows. I picked up the Party Trick set, which contains six beautiful eyeshadows, for only $20 because it was on sale. I thought I'd totally smashed the system here, managing to pick up six eyeshadows for that amount, considering that they're normally $5 each. Picking up this set also meant that I got the Birthday Girl shadow, which was originally a limited edition item! This left me with $10 to play with, so I ended up going for a set of two brushes (which I can't seem to find on the site now - sorry!) for that exact amount of money. I thought I'd won the lottery! The only problem with ordering the products online is that you have no idea how they're going to look when they get here. You've got no idea about the application, about how pigmented the products are or anything! I usually go off other people's reviews and photos, but still, I tend to get a bit anxious that I won't like the things when they arrive. This is why ColourPop need to be stocked in our drug stores. It's happened with NYX, so I'll just keep waiting for the company to announce it!

As soon as I opened the box, I knew I was wrong to be worried about not liking the products. Just look at this picture! Have you ever seen anything like it?! Before I get too excited, let's talk a bit about the packaging of these shadows. I originally thought that they would just be loose, like when you buy an individual one, but these came beautifully presented in a mauve box, adorned in diamonds and metallic accents. I was practically swooning just holding it in my hands, which turned to full on screeching when I realised that the box had a magnetised lid. I do love a good magnetised lid! Inside, the six shadows were sitting snugly in the base of the box, which was matte black with a line print on, almost like a spiderweb. The lid also featured a mirror, so it's exactly like a palette, just a little more chunky! I kind of felt like I'd opened the box that contains the holy grail. I just kept saying to my boyfriend 'I am living for this' and 'I think I'm dead,' whilst he just laughed and shook his head.

I'll admit, not all of these colours are something that I'd wear on a daily basis and they're all definitely to make a statement, but I feel like they're going to be perfect additions to my collection. I also think it's important to say that when I mentioned that the shadows were snug in the base of the box, I mean it. I really struggled to get them out to swatch them, and I understand that this is to stop them from moving about in transit, but my goodness, my poor fingers! Once I'd managed to remove them, it was time to see the colours in their true glory.

So, this is the first row of shadows. I know, it's quite something, isn't it? That first shade is Valley Girl and I'm madly in love with it. When I first swatched it, I was a bit like 'meh', but as soon as the light hit it, I was blown away. It's a soft, creamy vanilla shade with a gold sheen, and the texture is like butter. Most ColourPop shadows have a unique texture when applied with fingers, but I've never felt anything like Valley Girl before. It's almost like cream, but with a bounce. It's so hard to explain! But this would make the most stunning inner corner highlight, as there's no chunky glitter, just pure sheeny goodness. I've also read that some people use it to highlight their cheeks, which is something I definitely want to try out!Next up is Birthday Girl, the limited edition shadow that I mentioned earlier. I'll be honest, while I do love this one, it was a little underwhelming in comparison to the rest of the set. It's a metallic, light gold shade with silver and pink glitters. It's such a cute colour, but I just wish it was more opaque. ColourPop are known for the high quality of their products, but this one just doesn't hit the mark, in my opinion. However, I do think that because it's a bit more sheer in comparison to the other shades, Birthday Girl is a bit more wearable.And last of all on the top row, we have Prickly Pear. Who else thinks of Jungle Book when they read that? This is a muted lavender with a butt ton of violet and gold glitter. Again, this one is quite sheer, but definitely not as sheer as Birthday Girl. It's so multi-dimensional because of the amount of glitter in it, so it really pops, even against my ghost-like skin! It's just stunning and I'm really excited to have a play about with it.

While the top row was all kinds of lovely, the bottom row is definitely where it's at for me. I just can't get enough of that first shade, Hot Tamale. Not too offend anyone, but when I visited America's Deep South, I tried a hot tamale and didn't really enjoy it, but I'm certainly enjoying this version. This is rich, burgundy-brown with a pearly finish. I'm obsessed with how deep the colour is and I think it would be amazing for creating sultry, vampy looks. Can we also just take a second for that pigmentation as well? This was one swipe!

Next up, we have yet another amazingly pigmented shade, which is Cheap Date. This is a true gold with silver sparkles, giving the shade a gorgeous contrast. This shadow makes me think a lot of Get Lucky, but this one has a lot less glitter, making it slightly more wearable. This would be amazing when doing some graphic liner or a statement eye look. It would also be perfect for festival season!

And last, but certainly not least, we have Moonshine. I think this is my favourite from the palette because I can see myself using it a heck of a lot. It's a delicious, metallic, chocolate brown with flecks of gold glitter, which will be perfect for making the brown in my right eye really pop. With a light hand, this shadow could be worn during the day, or packed on at night for a party look. Again, I only swiped this shadow once, so the pigmentation is just out of this world!

What do I make of this set then? Some shades are much better than others, but I think I will get use out of all of them, especially those final three. I think $20 was an amazing price for all six, and I would've quite happily paid more! It's such a bargain, so if you're interested, definitely check out the sale section of the site, or even the value sets.

I know for a fact I'll get use out of the brushes. I may not use them with the ColourPop shadows, as I think they look their best when applied with a finger, but I'll certainly use them with a lot of other products. That brush on top is ideal for blending. It fans out towards the end and has a round shape, which makes it perfect for sweeping across the lid and smoking colours out. It's also super soft - comparable to Real Techniques brushes, yet these were a fraction of the price. The second brush, the one on the bottom, will be great for packing colour on to the lid. While the first brush has bristles that quite easily move about, the bristles on this one are packed together quite tightly, making the tip quite firm. Again, the bristles are slightly round, so I'll be able to apply my shadows quite precisely. Together, they make the perfect duo! They're both pink with gold hardware, and they're quite light, so you can tell that they're cheaper than higher end brushes, but I think that will work to their advantage. I will get a heck of a lot of use out of them, but right now, they're untouched because they're too pretty to mess up just yet.Those are all the things I picked up from ColourPop! I can guarantee that this won't be the last mini haul I do from this site. They're constantly bringing out new products, so it's ridiculously hard to resist! If they did get UK stores or have stock in drug stores, I think my bank account would be drained. I'm already picturing a wall of Super Shock Shadows in Boots and all the swatching I could do...Have you tried out anything from ColourPop? Or has something they've recently released caught your eye?

The Northernist is the ramblings of a twenty-something girl from up North. Fuelled by her love for writing, Olivia created this space on the web to chat about all the things she's passionate about, share recipes and speak to like-minded people. Expect more eyeshadows than anyone could ever need, an overflowing bookshelf and just a sprinkle of fairy dust.